‘Candy’ stars Jessica Biel, Melanie Lynskey on the surprising way they relate to their characters

The true story of a 1980’s murder is at the center of the new series Candy, which debuts its first episode today on Hulu.

So, what’s it all about? For starters, it’s about a woman named Candy, who is played by Jessica Biel.

“Candy is a very normal suburban housewife and mom who is a churchgoing leader in her community,” Biel tells ABC Audio. “A fun, nice, kind woman who has a lot of emotional things that she’s incapable of sharing, and is incapable of knowing how to express herself in a way that that can keep her life on a regular track.”

She continues, “And she comes up against an experience where she commits a terrible act of violence. And it changes her life and her friend’s life.”

Biel also shares that Candy is a character with which she surprisingly could “very much relate to as a wife and a mother.”

“You know, just a normal-ish type of person,” she says. “And, you know, being pushed to the edge and then making a decision that, you know, you can’t take back.”

Likewise, Melanie Lynskey, who plays the woman Candy murders in the series, says that her role was also one that she could relate to.

“I’m a pretty shy person and I feel like I can be extremely awkward in groups of people. And that was something that I found very endearing about Betty,” she explains. “I also understood very deeply, and I cared about her. There was just something internally that felt right to me when I read the script.”